I like Leeds. There’s an amazing selection of pubs within minutes of the station. In fact, out of these 7, the furthest one is no more than 3 minutes walk away! Yes, there are other great pubs but when I do my Leeds mini-crawl, these are the ones that feature. Why bother trekking further afield or visit a festival – there’s nearly 100 beers available!
Brewery Tap
18-24 New Station Street, Leeds LS1 5DL
Mon – Thu 12-23; Fri-Sat 11-00; Sun 12-22:30
Beers: 6 cask, 7 keg, bottles
One of the Leeds city centre outlets for Leeds Brewery beers and also brews their own lager on site. A reasonable selection of beers but can get very busy.
Friends of Ham
4-8 New Station Street, Leeds LS1 5DL
Mon-Wed 11-11; Thu-Sat 11-00; Sun 11-22
Beers: 4 cask, 10 keg, bottles
For the last two years, Friends of Ham have been my top UK beer ticking pub! No mean feat when you consider it’s a half hour train ride away. A great choice of beers and knowledgeable staff. Prices aren’t the world’s best, but not really much different to others in the area – you might pay more than you would normally, but then you wouldn’t neck a something like an 11{fb3ea2a882e48d0e4b8b3276b251e5656d46f860aae55d881c5c098b5b38d1a0} stout! The tasting trays can work out to be excellent value, especially for the stronger beers. On the other hand, you pay for what you get- usually great beer served by people who know what they’re on about (gormless staff is one of my gripes – see this post).
Tapped Leeds
51 Boar Lane, Leeds LS1 5EL
Mon-Wed 11-23; Thu 11-00; Fri-Sat 11-01; Sun 11-23
Beers: 13 cask, 14 keg, bottles
Certainly the biggest venue in my mini crawl of Leeds, this place doesn’t do things by halves. 27 draught beers, 100+ bottles, pizzas freshly cooked in a proper pizza shiny pizza oven, oh – and they brew their own beer on site.
Again, an excellent range of beers – sometimes too good and they sadly don’t sell third pints, except for the strongest beers. Once again, great staff who know what they’re on about.
The Griffin
31 Boar Lane, Leeds LS1 5DF
Mon-Fri 11-00; Sat-Sun 09-00
Beers: 4 cask
Bit of a change here at The Griffin. All the other pubs so far have been part of the ‘new wave’ beer movement. This place is definitely more old school. It’s owned by the Taylor Walker group. Quite often, the beers aren’t uncommon but it still has great 1870s architecture.
Bundobust
6 Mill Hill, Leeds LS1 5DQ
Mon-Thu 12-23; Fri-Sat 12-00; Sun 12-22
Beers: 1 cask, 12 keg, bottles
Wowee – what do you get if you mix beer (mainly keg) and Indian street food? Bundobust! Now, I’m still not entirely convinced about mixing spicy food and beer, but these guys at Bundobust do it remarkably well. The food isn’t your standard run of of mill ‘Indian’ but more authentic South Indian vegetarian food. Back to the old ‘great beer and great staff that know what they’re on about’ again. Just watch out for the beer on the permanent Mikkeller tap – it can be pricey!
Head of Steam
12 Mill Hill, Leeds LS1 5DQ
Mon-Thu 11-00; Fri-Sat 11-01; Sunday 12-23
Beers: 7 cask, 11 keg, bottles
Bit of a strange mix this one – it’s more of a traditional boozer that has a number of keg taps, but tend not to be new era British keg beers but rather more run of the mill Belgian, German and American ones – not that there’s anything wrong with these. Yes – knowledgeable staff.
Scarbrough Hotel
Bishopsgate Street, Leeds LS1 5DY
Mon-Thu 10-00; Fri-Sat 10-01; Sun 08-22
Beers: 8 cask
And – the final pub on the route (or the first if you go the other way round) is the Scarbrough Arms. Definitely one of the old breed of boozers but as can be expected in a Nicholson’s pub, not a bad beer choice at all. Sadly, not in keeping with the knowledgeable staff though- with some of them it’s quite difficult to get them to understand your order. One plus point is the Nicholson’s mobile app that gives cut price beer!
